Automobile-door latch.



0. E. OLSON.

AUTOMOBILE DOOR LATCH.` APPucATmN FILED 1AN.15.1918.

Patented June 18, 1918.

w naman i OSCAR JE. OLSON, 0F FLINT, MICHIGAN.

AUTOMOBILE-DOOR LATCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June its, 191s..

Application filed January 15, 1918. Serial No. 211,962.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that 1, OSCAR E. OLsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Flint, in the county of Genesee and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automobile-Door Latches, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to latches for automobile doors, and has for its object to simplify the construction of the latch, thus making it cheaper to manufacture and less liable to get, out of order.

Another object is to prevent the door from rattling. Other objects will appear as the description proceeds.

The invention will be first hereinafter described in connection with the accompanying drawings, which constitute part of this specification, and then more specically dened in the claim at the end of the description.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein similar reference characters are used to designate corresponding parts throughout the several views Figure l is an edge elevation of the upper portion of an automobile door equipped with a latch made substantially in accordance with this invention.

Fig. 2 is an inside elevation of the free edge portion of the door and the jamb, showing the latch casing and keeper in section,

Fig. 3 is a detailed front elevation of the keeper, and

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the latch casing.

The lock consists of an operating lever 1 and latch 2 which are cast in one piece, a casing 3 for said latch, a spring 4f arranged in the casing and normally holding the latch in projected position, as shown in Fig. 2, and a keeper 5 to be engaged by the latch when the door 6 is closed on the jamb 7. The lever 1 is pivoted in a recess 8 in the inner face of the door 6 by means of a screw or bolt 9, and the upper-.end portion 10 of said lever is offset at 11 to form a handle which is also integral with the lever and latch. This handle 10 may be burnished or plated so as to be pleasing in appearance,

and is superior to separate attached handlesv because it cannot get loose or come off.

The casing 3 may be cast or forged at the discretion of the manufacturer and has flanges 12 and 13 at its opposite ends through which screws 14: are driven into the door for retaining said casing thereto with its outer face flush with the inner surface of said door as shown in Fig. l. The flange 13 is preferably seated in a recess 15 in the free edge of the door, as illustrated in Fig. 2, into which recess the keeper 5 extends when the door is shut, said recess of course being open on the inner face of the door. 1n the top of the casing there is a slot 16 in line with the recess 8, in which slot the lower end of the lever 1 works as the latch is swung back and forth from latched to unlatched position. The flange l2 constitutes an abutment for one end of the coiled spring 4, the other end of said spring bearing against the latch 2.

The end of the latch is tapered on all four sides and is square on the eXtreme end and in cross section, as at 17. rlhe keeper 5 has a correspondingly shaped recess 18 into which the spring 4 forces the' tapered end of the latch with a wedging action which prevents the door from rattling. The keeper' is preferably formed with an inclined surface 19 leading to the recess 18, so that the latch will act automatically when the door is swung to closed position. The handle 10 is moved toward the free edge of the door to release the latch from the keeper, which is just the opposite from the general method of operation, and this is an advantage because of the simplifiedi construction of the lever 1 and latch 2 in an integral piece.

Having thus described my invention, what l claim as new and desire to secure. by Letters Patent of the United States is In a latch 0f the character described, the combination with a door having a recess, of a lever pivoted in said recess, a tubular casing arranged transversely of the door and having a. slot through which said lever eX tends, a latch carried by the lever and adapted to be reciprocated thereby in the casing, one end of casing being open and the other end being closed, and resilient means inter posed between the closed end of the casing and the latch-carrying end of the lever for yieldingly holding said latch so as to protrude from the open end of the casing.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

OSCAR E. OLSON.

Copies or this patent may te obtained for five cents each, by addressing the ommisaioncr et Patents, Washington, m., M. 

